Social Media Rules

I would tentatively agree with all of the “rules” this piece advises breaking. It seems humorous, though, considering most people break them (and have been breaking them) for a long time.

I don’t know of a single business or personality who doesn’t cross-post updates. The piece argues that cross-posting isn’t worth it if your audience on a particular site pales in comparison to that of another, but what kind of reasoning is that? There will always be someone who has not subscribed to updates from you on both platforms, so it will be worth it regardless.

The next, a rule to not schedule posts, is ludicrous and I can’t imagine any sensible person following it. This is particularly true given the studies examining how people use social networking. Site trafic ebbs and flows at particular points in the day. I know many users who schedule tweets to be sent out during peak times so as to gain the most stars. It just makes sense.

The notion of following everyone back who follows you is a very dated one, and I only see the odd SEO quack subscribe to it. The fact is that having lots of followers but following only a select few will lend you credibility, the maintenance of which should remain a top priority. Following everyone back makes you appear desperate, like the sad and lonely lot of the #teamfollowback hashtag. Now might be a good time to interject that sending an automated “thank you” to new followers is annoying and unnecessary.

The last piece of advice, to repeat yourself, I find somewhat ill-advised. Like the television news viewers, tweeters and facebookers will tire of whatever it is you are trying to push at them. And though I use Twitter for joke telling, and not news making, I can attest that as a user, I don’t like seeing numerous posts about the same thing- particularly after some major event.

These rules are sensible for the most part, and I think users catch on to them after a brief period of using any social network.